The file's contents spilled out of one folder and into a second. Then a third. For at least seven years in the late 1980s and until 1993, we tracked and reported and wrote about the research and pending FDA decision on the use and commercial sale of bovine somatotropin, or bST.

The ag world treats the cyclical years when the farm bill is written as The Years. As in "this could be The Year that meaningful reform streamlines ag programs" or "this could be The Year that environmental mandates include substantial financial assistance.